Hidden
by Azure Darkness
Summary: Two people. The world has changed. What do they do?
1. The Unfortunate Beginning

**I own nothing. The wonderful J.K. Rowling owns any recognizable content/characters in this story. **

**Hidden**

The Unfortunate Beginning

Severus and Hermione had just come back from her parents' funeral. Severus squeezed her hand as they walked through the small muggle town. They had to get to the nearest fireplace with a connection line to get back to school, because Hermione didn't really know how to apparate yet. That lesson had just started being taught to her and her other sixth year classmates.

Hermione had been lucky to be at school when Death eaters torched her house. She and Severus had gone to see the house for the first time this morning. The house was totally burned to the ground. Unfortunately, she had left Paris at home this year, so she was gone, too. Now, Hermione had no one.

At that moment Severus clutched his arm. Hermione came out of her thoughts and stopped walking. She stared at Severus, as he seemed pained, but was straining not to show it.

"I'm being called. Stay here. I'll be back for you." Severus said, then he leaned down to her and gave a chaste kiss on the lips. He disappeared just as she opened her eyes. _That kiss_, she thought, _where had it come from?_

Hermione didn't know where to go. She didn't know this area at all and she couldn't apparate, safely, anywhere. She would have to sit there and wait for her Professor to come back. _Hopefully, he won't be gone long_, she thought.

Hermione walked for a few minutes. She was walking quite slowly so it hadn't taken her far from where she was before. She settled under a tree. She held her knees to her chest and stared into the sky.

Hermione could see Severus approaching her slowly. There were so many questions running through her mind. _Had Voldemort called him for what she thought he did? Did Harry survive? Did he get hurt? Where was everyone? Did anyone survive?_

All those questions died in her throat as Severus got closer. He waited until he got closer and fell to his knees. She saw the defeated look of failure on his face. Obviously, it didn't go very well. She just wrapped her arms around his head and held him until he recovered.

A few seconds later, he stood up. He looked deep into her eyes, but didn't say anything. Hermione wanted to ask her questions. Maybe she had jumped to conclusions and Severus was just suffering from a spell.

"They're gone, Hermione. All of them."

Hermione gasped. "What happened?"

"When I got there, Voldemort told me that he had set a device in place at Hogwarts. It was set to go off today. The call was to make sure I was out of the area. He didn't want his precious potions master to get killed. Anyway, the device went off near the Great hall, where as you know, mostly everyone was having dinner. It was basically a bomb. Everyone it didn't get was killed by a toxic gas that traveled through the entire school. We're the only one's left." Severus said. He was angry he had even told the Order that Voldemort planned to attack Hogwarts. They would have been at Grimmauld Place instead of getting blasted in the Great hall.

"So, what now?"

Severus sighed. "Well, he is planning on enslaving all muggles and using the muggleborn and halfblood women to breed more followers. Any magical men who do not want to join his cause will be killed."

"Can't I just... hide somewhere safe?" Hermione asked desperately.

"I'm not sure where safe is anymore."

"So, then, what happens to us?"

"I continue on in my service. And I'll take care of you. That was the last thing Albus asked of me. He asked me to keep any of the children that survived, safe. Since you are the only one, I must make it my duty to protect you."

"Alright." Hermione said. Severus pulled her into a hug. Then he apparated them to another place. A lonely, yet spacious area. Hermione looked up at her professor questioningly.

"Well, apparating you was against the law, but I doubt the ministry will be worrying about such small things now."

"Where are we?" Hermione asked, looking at the medium sized cottage.

"My home. Well, the other one. My other home was Hogwarts, but since that place is gone ... this is my only home."

She pulled away slightly. He sounded desperate and she had a sudden need to see his face. He looked down at her intently for a moment before bending down to kiss her. The kiss was hard and demanding. She fought to return it and hold her ground. She touched his face with one hand and realized that his cheek was wet with tears. She had never seen a grown man cry before and the fact that it was this man… this powerful wizard made the horror of the whole thing become real to her. It hit her all afresh. Her parents were gone. Her friends were gone. Both the places she called home were gone. All that was left to her was this man at breaking point.

She made no protest when he lifted her into his arms and bore her to his bed.

He dropped her down and climbed hastily on top of her. His eyes were crying but the rest of him still struggled to maintain his cold facade. She reached a hand up and grasped his greasy hair. He brought his lips down to hers again and resumed his angry kissing whilst tearing at her clothing with his strong hands.

She clenched up inside but made no attempt to fight him or to assist him. She focused on his lips and his mouth and forced herself to be acquiescent to his, out of control, passion. Within a few moments he had her breasts bared, her skirt raised and her panties so torn as to be useless for their purpose.

He moved his head down to her breast and sucked it roughly into his large mouth. She felt something, a trace of a feeling in her system, which was swamped by grief. It was like a small spark to kindle her emotions. He moved his mouth to her other breast and suckled and tongued it forcefully.

She brought her hands to his head and began to stroke him gently as he used his hands to spread her open for him. She could feel his hardness against her ankle as he pressed her into the soft mattress. It was going to be soon, she could tell.

He pushed himself up onto his knees and began to unbutton the Muggle slacks he had worn for the visit to the Undertakers. She continued to lie as he had positioned her, refusing to pay heed to the urge to cover herself. He pulled his white shirt over his head and pushed the slacks down in order to free his large erection.

It was red and angry looking. Hermione felt another emotion pushing at the edges of her mind. It was fear. This was going to hurt.

He lay on her again and this time she could feel his bare skin against hers. He kissed her again… this time more gently and positioned himself to enter her.

She was only very slightly moist and as he pressed himself slowly and steadily into her, she felt raw. There was a sharp twinge as he broke through her barrier but she bit back the impulse to cry out. He rested for a moment when he was fully seated inside her and then began to rock her gently. This was bearable and she could see where pleasure might come from this friction.

She ran her hands over his bared torso marveling at the strength she could sense there. Unusually, for a girl of her age, she had not thought much about men. Yes, in theory, she knew about biological variations between the sexes but she had not been ready to consider giving herself to a man.

His thrusts were growing more and more vigorous now and after a short while he came and she felt the hot stickiness of his release, as it filled her. He was shaking again and she realized he was now convulsing with the sobs that had not accompanied his earlier tears. She embraced him as he lay on her and she kissed her way down his collarbone muttering the soothing noises a mother might make to her weeping child.

It took a long time for him to calm but when he did he reached into a drawer in the bedside cabinet and produced a knife, a large sharp one. He put it into her hand.

"Why are you giving me this?" she asked in confusion.

"I am a Death Eater. I just raped you. At least, now, you will be prepared for whatever depravities they force upon you. Use the knife on me. I will not resist. I doubt a child as soft as you could do any harm with 'Avada Kedavra' so I'll lie still while you cut my throat."

"I thought you were going to protect me," she said, a trace of anger in her voice.

"A fine job I'm doing of it so far. The last thing Albus asked of me was that I protect you and look what I did. Face it Miss Granger, all the good men are dead, or as good as, and men like me have survived. If I had not informed Dumbledore that the Dark Lord was about to strike, the Order would not have moved to Hogwarts. I, as good as, killed the whole Weasley family and every friend you had. Use the knife, or would you rather I used it on you? It will be quick and painless. I promise."

"I'm not ready to give up yet," she sneered. "I'll hang on to my life until I'm truly convinced it will never be worth living. Voldemort's not immortal. I'm young and I'm strong and I'm clever and everyone but you thinks me dead."

"I want to give mine up. I don't want to be the Dark Lord's creature. I hurt you. Take your revenge."

"I'll live. You didn't do anything to me I didn't allow."

"I don't believe I gave you a choice. Besides which you are a child in my care. You're not allowed to choose me."

"I'm seventeen, hardly a child. You're not my teacher. You can't be. I don't go to school. It got bombed. I'm over the age of consent as far as Muggles are concerned and I don't think Wizarding laws afford me any protection any more. The only thing protecting me is you but you'd rather lie here feeling sorry for yourself."

"And how will the Dark Lord meet his end when Potter fried this afternoon?" he shot cruelly.

Stripes of anger appeared on Hermione's brow, but quickly disappeared."The confrontation between Voldemort and Harry never took place therefore there has to be an opening for him to die in some other way. He took Harry away before he reached his destiny. DTHBC Principles demand a balance for that. Are you going to cowardly bow out now when something could certainly be done or will you work with me to find a way?"

"Strident little bitch," he commented sourly. "So are you going to carry on trading your favours for my protection?"

"If I need to, then yes. Although I had hoped that you would give your protection as a gift and I would give you comfort as a reciprocal gift. However if your Slytherin mind can only work in terms of trade so be it."

"If I protect you then you will not leave this house until the Dark Lord is dead or deposed. If I am discovered to be hiding you, then you have ended my life as well as your own. Do you understand me Miss Granger?"

"I understand you. I will not put you at risk."

**A/N:**

**So, this is the beginning of what I hope will be a long story. I've written some Hermione/Severus for myself or friends, but this is the first attempt at a story online with the pairing. We'll see how it turns out.**

**Obviously DTHBC Principles aren't real, as far as I know. It's made up. DTHBC standing for Destiny That Has Been Changed.**

**Leave some feedback, please. ^^  
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	2. The Routine

I own nothing. The wonderful J.K. Rowling owns any recognizable content/characters in this story.

**The Routine**

Severus had gone to a meeting, so Hermione was alone. Severus told her to stay away from the windows and to not go outside and to keep all lights out. She kept her movement minimal and quiet. No need to draw any unwanted attention to the house when Severus was not supposed to be there.

It had been a very stressful first month. They both had to get used to each others annoying habits and try to make sure Severus kept the illusion of living alone at the forefront. This wasn't incredibly hard when Severus was there. As long as Hermione's feminine shadow was not seen in the windows too often, Severus could explain it by saying it was purchased or forced female companionship.

Hermione was moving towards the bathroom when she heard the muted sound of someone apparate near the house. As told, she ran for the bedroom, as quietly as she could, and hid herself under the bed. She waited a moment to make sure Severus was alone and if it was, indeed, Severus. Then, as the steps got closer to the bedroom, they stopped and she heard it. Two loud knocks, three soft knocks, a scratch of a nail on the door and a whispered, "I'm alone."

Hermione climbed from under the bed, walked out into the open and across the room. She opened the door to see Severus sitting on a dark, hard wooden chair next to the bedroom door. He still had on his death eater garb and his body looked outrageously tired as it seemed to droop over the chair. She walked over and softly stroked his hand. He held up his head and, though she couldn't see it, gave her a small grim smile. She pulled off his mask and started to strip away his heavy black robe. He stood up out of the chair and turned so she could undress him. She started with his shirt and ended with his trousers.

When everything but his knickers had been removed, Hermione led Severus to the bathroom. She ran some water while he took the pain potion (he had taught her to make it) that Hermione had provided and watched her with tired eyes. She knelt down and turned the silver knobs. The water flowed out and she poured in a sweet and spicy smelling mix of herbs and oils that Severus always used and then she left the room.

She returned with two glasses and some wine. He got into the tub as she stripped down to her underwear and sat behind him on the edge of the tub. While he drank the tangy wine from the glass, she lightly hummed a tune that she wasn't sure where she remembered it from. Between the humming and occasional sips from her own glass, she rubbed his neck and back with calming oils until she could feel some of the stress leave his body.

It was their routine on his now numerous meeting nights.

A/N:

Tis short, I know. Please don't be upset, if you've been waiting (I mentioned on my page this wouldn't be updated too regularly because of work and such and now I'm watching my sister's kids, yet again, so I hesitate to write anything 'adult' when they are around, which kind of messes with my writing process) and all you got was a short chapter. The next will be longer. I'm rewriting the existing chapters and, of course, trying to figure out exactly where I want my story to end up. Also, a small warning, Severus will not be weak anymore. He had his 'break down' in the first chapter and diving back into his service to the Dark Lord, as well as looking to the task at hand, he has come back to himself. Hopefully, I write him in a pleasing manner.

With this short chapter, I felt like I should establish what their routine is (and give an update) because it will come up again later on in the story. Maybe more, I haven't gotten that far.


	3. A Little R and R

_**I own nothing. The wonderful J.K. Rowling owns any recognizable content/characters in this story.**_

**A Little R and R**

Severus was never one to really participate in the usual celebrations after a raid. Well, not after he'd begun spying. Moral mumbo-jumbo and all that, plus the headmaster wasn't exactly very keen on him enjoying such things. Severus looked around. This huge fortress, palace, mansion, manor, whatever the Dark Lord was calling it these days, was filled to the brim with death eaters. Some old, but most new. The newer, and young, ones eagerly took part in everything the Dark Lord was offering. Sex, illegal potions, dead bodies, live bodies, money, but most important, power. Severus scoffed. Power. _What good was power_, Severus wondered_._

He looked down, to his right; another dead body littered the floor. He thought to himself that her parents were probably somewhere distraught and frantically searching for their missing daughter. It was something the death eater population took great pleasure in. They'd kidnap couple's only child and kill them, letting the parents suffer from worry and run themselves ragged trying to find their child for a few days. Then, after closely monitoring the parents, making sure they were at their wit's end, the death eaters would come back with some evidence of the child's death, let that sink in, and then finish off the parents. Oh, how that would make them howl with laughter.

Severus thought it was sad and funny at the same time.

If any of their precious children went missing, they would not be laughing so. They would be in the exact same state as the muggle parents. Yet, they delighted in making someone else feel such pain. Of course, Severus thought to himself, none of them would think on it more than a second if they thought on it at all. These men and women who served the Dark Lord were not conscious of pain or hurt if it wasn't aimed at or felt by them.

Severus was ready to leave and get back to his home. Even though it was full of bad memories, it was still quite a comfort to him. Not to mention, it was nice having someone waiting at home for him, something he'd really never experienced. His parents didn't count as usually they didn't pay much attention to him. When they did, it was so his father could berate or hit him, and his mother, so she could confide in him when she had no one else. Severus's lip curled unpleasantly, thinking about his father.

"Severus, my friend, come and grant me your presence." Slippery words seemed to be heard at a distance, but Severus knew that the owner of the words was close.

Severus was taken from his thoughts and immediately put a shield up, thinking on the many times he had enjoyed these after-raid parties. He followed the serpentine man through a doorway, fixed with ancient runes and satanic like symbols, studying his snake-like stride. Severus thought suddenly that he definitely slid, rather than walked. Something he thought the Dark Lord would probably be happy about.

The Dark Lord sat down in a very unusual chair. A throne, many of his fellow followers called it. It was high in back, made of dark tinted silver, intertwined with black stone. The greenest of gems placed here and there and, of course, topped off by Nagini's long, sleek body. Severus looked directly into the Dark Lord's eyes, showing he had nothing to hide, that he welcomed any invasion into his mind that the Dark Lord deemed appropriate. He sat down on a rather plain wooden chair that was set among others, for the purpose of quick meetings. A much larger table was behind them, intended for much larger meetings and joyous get-togethers, like what had commenced just about an hour before.

"My Lord, to what do I owe the honor of your attentions?"

The Dark Lord watched Severus through slitted eyes for a few moments, then spoke. "I noticed you were not as... involved in tonight's festivities. In fact, you haven't seemed to derive much pleasure from any of the gatherings, of late." The Dark Lord paused, but Severus said nothing, so he continued. "As you know, I am concerned with my follower's happiness and their sorrows. Is there a cause?"

Severus seemed to be thinking. "My Lord, if there is a cause, it must be that I am quite weary and in need of rest and sleep. Not that I complaining, my Lord; it is a privilege and an honor to serve you."

The Dark Lord looked deeply into Severus's emotionless black orbs, seeming to search his very soul to find any indication that Severus might be lying. Several moments passed, Severus keeping his shield up and focusing strongly on keeping eye contact, and the Dark Lord made a satisfied noise in his throat.

"You have served me a long time, have you not? More than half your life, I believe."

"Yes, my Lord."

The Dark Lord nodded slightly. "You have served me most faithfully, even lowering yourself to become a spy for me under that annoying old fool, Dumbledore." The Dark Lord seemed to be lost in thought for a few seconds, then turned his attentions back to Severus. "I believe you have earned a small... holiday. Rest, sleep, enjoy some more... soft and feminine company. You do tend to deny yourself in that regard, don't you, Severus?"

"Female affection is not something very important to me, my Lord." Severus kept his face blank, the lie ripping at his heart a bit. He had, at one time, hoped for female affection in the form of a sweet, redheaded girl with the name of the most beautiful flower he could possibly imagine. _She died_, he quickly remembered, _at your hand_.

"Yes, if only all my followers thought as you, I would be spared the family drama, as it were. However, some of my followers have paired off quite strategically and I am... happy. They were seeking power and status, so I can't really fault them for wanting to make powerful alliances, ensuring that their bloodlines continue and that I have another generation of faithful followers."

Severus remained still, but let a grim smile form on his lips. The Dark Lord accepted it, inclining his head toward the door in dismissal. Severus removed himself from the chair, bowing his head making his jet black hair caress his face quickly, and left the room.

**A/N**: Long time, no write, right?

Finally, finally, finally had the time to sit down and edit and re-edit and re-edit this chapter.

I must say I'm not _completely_ happy with it, but I can't keep you guys waiting forever because of my horrible insecurities about my writing and I do want to finish this because it's always in my brain. I want to see how it pans out myself because I haven't exactly gotten completely to the end in my head. I know where I want to go with it, now, but as of now, there is no ending, though I have many in mind.

About the story, I've been thinking and, yes, Severus will be his usual self to everyone, but he does have his ... weaknesses, I guess you could call them. He is but a man and a man is not perfect. Nor is he completely void of all feeling, no matter how much he may say he is. So, expect a cruel Severus, but not all the time and not to everyone. Soon enough we will see more than just Severus, Voldemort, Hermione, and Nagini.

And remember, reviews feed the soul.


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